Integrating Personality And Coping In Predicting Well-being

This study investigated an integrated model of personality and coping styles in predicting well-being among Asian and European Americans. Participants were 297 European American and 210 Asian American college-aged students and community members. Participants completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI; Benet-Martinez & John, 1998), Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE; Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), and Social Well-Being Scale (SWBS; Keyes, 1998). The Asian American participants also completed the Asian American Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AAMAS; Chung, Kim, & Abreu, 2004). Many of the hypotheses in the study were supported. Interpretation of the findings, implications, and future directions for research are discussed. Overall, the study demonstrated the importance of integrating personality traits and coping styles in understanding the subjective and social well-being of Asian and European Americans.